One popular form of laundry detergent is the laundry liquid. This is due in part to the convenience of that product form, in particular the ability to apply the detergent readily to soiled areas of the clothes. The popularity of laundry liquids has created a need for more convenient containers for dispensing these products. Thus, bottles having cups serving as measuring closures, and fitments incorporating drainage mechanisms and pouring spouts have appears on the market.
One type of container is exemplified by that of Barker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,862 wherein a bottle includes a fitment having a spout and a structure permitting the product to drain back into the container. The fitment has internal threads at its upper aspects which mate the external threads surrounding the mouth of a bottle cap.
Other containers have been developed using a different approach. The container disclosed in Davidson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,009 comprises a spout-and drainback-including fitment which snaps into the mouth of the bottle. The closure has internal threads situated within a flange which surrounds the measuring cup portion of the closure. The internal threads of the closure mate with external threads surrounding the neck opening.
Various other arrangements are disclosed in Hidding, U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,700, Livingstone, U.S. Pat. No. 2,763,402, Kitterman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,198,393, Baxter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,189, Livingstone, U.S. Pat. No. 2,743,844, Visser, U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,150, Lay, U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,302, and Bartimes et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,083.
Since an important advantage of liquid laundry detergents is the ability to pretreat the clothes by pouring the detergent on the particular soiled areas, it is desirable that the pour spout permit fairly precise pouring onto specific areas. Many pour spouts on the market do not permit the consumer adequately to control the pouring so as to target successfully the area of the fabric onto which the liquid will be poured. There is a need, therefore, for a pour spout which improves the control of the user when pouring liquid products.
An additional desired feature of pouring spouts for laundry detergent and other products is the ability to dispense limited amounts of the product without going to the trouble of removing a closure. There is therefore a need for a container, particularly one suitable for liquid household products, which permits controlled dispensing to selected areas of the clothes without the need for screwing and unscrewing a closure.
Another desired feature of a successful liquid detergent container is good topload compression strength. Moreover, good topload compression strength may permit the elimination of dividers in shipping cases in certain instances and the attendant cost and waste to the environment. Improved handling on a filling line is another desired feature.
The present invention is directed to solving these and the problems associated with containers, particularly containers having pouring spouts suitable for dispensing liquid household products such as liquid detergents.